Sept 2 (Sunday) - 1145pm

I noticed on the posts that several people commented that this story could make a great book, and perhaps at some point that might be true.  But not right now.   This story is unlike any book I've ever read, and the truth is that although many of the words written are mine, they are being written by someone who has no knowledge of what will happen or where the next turn will go, and the real truth is that the storyline and the plot are all in God's hands.  

Almost to make that point, today was another roller coaster of sorts, and while there are some very good things to report there are also things that are not where we would have wanted them to go.    For Jeannette, the good news is that those all important "numbers" continued to improve today, and her white blood cell count has come down even more, a steady improvement that has the doctors pleased.   Her other blood numbers were steady too; and in fact the medical team was relieved because there had been some talk earlier that another unit or two of blood might have been needed, but by this afternoon that was no longer the case and that worry had seemed to have passed for now.  

So, the medical news was good, but the magic carpet roller coaster ride of the ICU had its down point too, and unfortunately Jeannette has been plagued by nausea that started yesterday and which did not relent until just a short time ago.   It was bad enough that Sam never went home last night--it turned out Jeannette needed her there, and she was "on the verge" of throwing up all through the night and for most of the day as well.  That's never fun even when you are healthy, and having an upset stomach was definitely not something Jeannette needed.    By mid-afternoon the nurses were fighting it with a three fold drug onslaught, as they searched for the right anti-nausea "drug" that will calm her stomach and get it under control.    

Again, I am reminded that it is the art of medicine more than the science, and in this case its a complicated dance to figure out why she is having this feeling and making the right choices to get it to pass.   It's not a simple matter of having eaten something that doesn't agree with her.   Jeannette is being fed with an IV line, and that "food" is something that can be put directly into the bloodstream.   She also has a stomach tube that slowly adds nutrients too, a special mixture of food that might not define a gourmet dining experience, but nevertheless is real "food" and it enters directly into the stomach.    One issue of the IV line is that it makes a person feel "full" or at least "fed" and so the don't tend to get hungry.   And while she might not want the feeding tube when she is feeling sick at her stomach, nevertheless the feeding tube is a slow drip that adds critical nutrients into her stomach, and that in turn keeps her "gut" working, which is essential to her survival.   Further, the doctors want to get the IV line out as soon as they can, and so for all of these reasons even with the nausea this feeding tube must continue.   Somehow I think they will sort it all out; and they appear to have had some success from the last reports I received.    The hope of course is that they can find the right cocktail of anti-nausea medicine that will get this feeling under control.    But in the meantime, the bottom line is that it has not been a fun weekend.

The good news is that Jeannette finally late this evening seemed to be feeling better, and she told Sam to go to Joyce's and to "get some sleep."  I'm not sure how much sleep she will get however, as she is dropping Matt off at the airport at 4am, and my guess is she will drop by the hospital on her way back home.      

As for Rich, the report is that the priest from their church came by his home to deliver Holy Communion, and when I talked with him around noon he seemed in good spirits and he is clearly getting better.   His told me that his plan is to go into Anchorage tomorrow and to see Jeannette, and he had arranged that today and he had the plan in place to make it happen.  Hopefully, by the time he gets there Jeannette will be feeling better, although I'm guessing that she's going to be doing some serious catching up on her sleep as soon as she is.  I have the vision that Rich might get surprised and find Sam and Jeannette both passed out and sleeping when he arrives for his visit.--John